Towards large-area morphologic characterization of urban environments using the TanDEM-X mission and Sentinel-2

Abstract

Analysis of urbanization processes and assessments of natural hazard risks, among others, require detailed information of the physical properties of urban environments. In this paper, we present a multistep procedure for morphologic characterization of urban environments by estimating average built-up height and share of built-up area for spatial processing units. Thereby, we rely on data from the TanDEM-X mission and Sentinel-2. These earth observation systems feature a notable tradeoff between a fairly high spatial resolution and large-area coverage and, thus, allow for spatially continuous and consistent analysis over urban environments. Experimental results were obtained for the city of Munich (Germany). Estimated average built-up height features a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.7 m (i.e., less than one floor) and share of built-up area could be estimated with a MAE of 13.3 %, when compared to a reference data set.